Jack ran away from home after his family started planning a forced marriage to “cure” him of his homosexuality. Struggling to reconcile his Muslim faith with his sexual orientation, he had already been experiencing severe mental health problems.

After waiting almost nine hours for an assessment, Jack was initially refused emergency accommodation by a London local authority, despite being homeless and having mental health conditions and learning difficulties. The local authority attempted to have Jack forcibly removed from its offices, only relenting after the Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT), a charity that supports homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender 16- to 25-year-olds, advocated on his behalf.

Instead of finding accommodation our staff now have to recommend how to safely sleep on the street

Bob Green

Sadly, Jack’s case is far from unique. A recent survey by the trust shows that LGBT people make up 24% of the youth homeless population. They are overrepresented, according to the trust, because many are rejected by families unable to come to terms with their gender identity or sexual orientation. With more violent homophobic crimes being reported, LGBT people are also at greater risk of violence, sexual exploitation and mental health problems when they become homeless.

Many public services are ill-equipped to deal with LGBT people. Staff at the trust describe many examples, including trans people misgendered without an apology; and young people fleeing domestic abuse, afraid to seek help from housing professionals who are too quick to contact homophobic parents.

LGBT rough sleepers, quoted in a 2014 Stonewall Housing report, face discrimination when trying to access homelessness services. “I was told to keep my sexuality to myself,” one man says of his experience staying in a hostel. Another adds: “One service thought that sexuality wasn’t an issue and suggested I could go back home. They didn’t understand that I would experience violence.”

Homelessness presents particular difficulties for transgender people. In the report, one trans-male describes the ordeal of trying to find a safe place to inject hormones, or even just to wash. “There were no locks on the doors of the showers. You had people walk in on you. I would wash as much as I could and then go to McDonald’s to wash personal areas because I couldn’t take the chance, and it would have put me in a lot of danger.”

Under the coalition government, people under 35 are restricted to claiming only enough housing benefit to live in a shared house, forcing some LGBT people to live in unsafe places, with potentially homophobic or transphobic housemates. Conservative plans to abolish housing benefit for under-21s could force young people into staying with abusive or homophobic families.

There are also fewer safe social spaces: many gay bars and venues – a source of support and advice for vulnerable LGBT people with nowhere else to go – are shutting down due to soaring rents. The cumulative effect has been devastating.

“I have worked in housing for 25 years and for the very first time I have been hearing of young people suffering from malnutrition,” says Bob Green, chief executive of Stonewall Housing, a London-based LGBT housing advice and support provider. For the first time his organisation has been referring people to foodbanks, to the Terrence Higgins Trust hardship fund for people living with HIV and to London Catalyst, which can help people experiencing benefit sanctions.

Cuts to funding

Charities have been able to pick up some of the slack left by the public sector, but relentless cuts to local authority budgets mean council commissioners don’t have the money to fund as many specific projects and training, and LGBT concerns are easily dropped in harder times.

Green has already witnessed a 30% reduction in funding from four London boroughs three years ago, and could soon face a further 50% cut. “It’s fair to say we’re struggling,” says Green. “We will have to reduce services in the coming year. We may face closure in the years ahead.”

Funding for Stonewall Housing is now largely project-based, with little left for the day-to-day running of the charity. More payment-by-results contracts mean staff spend more time filing reports for funders, leaving less time to tackle the causes of LGBT homelessness. Green describes the situation as heartbreaking: “ Whereas before there would be more housing or hostel options, our staff now have to end conversations recommending how someone can sleep on the street more safely,” says Green. “We are living in 2015 and we’re advising people how to sleep on the streets.”

What would help?

One answer could be organisations working together. A good example is the London Youth Gateway, a one-stop shop for young people at risk of homelessness, where they can access support from Stonewall Housing, training and advice from New Horizon Youth Centre and Alone in London, and emergency accommodation from Depaul UK.

AKT, in a joint venture with housing association Circle 33, provides the only emergency safe house for young LGBT people in London. The Purple Door project has saved local authorities £1.5m since its launch in 2013, by taking the pressure off housing and social services.

But despite glimmers of good practice, Stonewall’s Green says there is not enough clever commissioning from local government, and that the voluntary sector is locked out of decision-making. Local authorities also have no mandate to record the sexual orientation or gender identity of those accessing services, making it difficult to map demand or work on prevention.

Lucy Bowyer, supported housing manager at AKT, says this is fixable. “We’d like local authorities to record LGBT youth homelessness. That’s really easy to do. It can be on the initial assessment form when young people present as homeless,” she explains. AKT is also calling for local authorities to train more of their staff, so they can understand the needs of LGBT young homeless people. “Not enough staff realise that LGBT is a specific issue that can cause problems in itself for young people and further isolate them,” says Bowyer.

Green agrees. “If they [local authorities] talked to us and involved us, I believe fewer people would fall through the cracks,” he says. “My worry is that if organisations like ours aren’t around, who’s going to be there to challenge them to improve? If we didn’t exist tomorrow, who would be sticking up for LGBT rough sleepers?”

Have you experienced discrimination in housing services? Contact housingnetwork@theguardian.com and let us know your story.

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